In the moments someone is needed, he steps up. The key players take their turns providing whatever is necessary in a tight spot: a few buckets, a crucial free throw, a stretch of strong defense. Perhaps a team that sees a moment or two when no one steps up are the ones condemned to finishing short, lost as footnotes when the histories are written.

But the Southside Rebels didn’t live that second story in 2001.

Talk to the players and each remembers a different key moment for the Class 3A state boys basketball title game, a contest that rightfully holds a place as perhaps the greatest game in which a Southside team ever participated.

Guard Brian Bell recalled the business trip-approach. His backcourt partner Ryan Baumgartner recalled heating up at a crucial juncture. Center Dustin Furney thought back to rejecting a crucial shot in the final minute of regulation. And forward Brice Jones, who authored an offensive explosion, locked in on the moment in overtime he fouled out, when in the biggest game of his career, he could no longer affect the outcome.

“I gathered my troops together and I had a 30-second heartfelt talk with them,” Jones said. “Tell them how I felt. And we all looked at each other and we all knew what we had to do. I was on the bench just sweating and anxiety attacks, wanting to be there, knowing they needed me.

“Sitting there, counting them seconds down and not being able to do it, man, it was hurtful. But we pulled it out, so I can’t complain.”

Preamble

Coach Rick Baumgartner had to shepherd his kids off the court.

Standing in the cavernous confines of what was then called Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the players had run out of their allotted practice time and it was time for the next team to take the floor. But the players didn’t want to leave. They wanted to soak up the moment and take in the scene.

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“We went over to practice, just watching the kids as far as when they walked out on the floor, you could tell they were just kind of mesmerized,” Rick Baumgartner said.

This was no longer the fresh-faced team that had reached the Class 3A state title game two seasons prior. That squad had entered the state tournament with an 11-10 record before staging an improbable drive to the RCA Dome where the Rebels fell to Plainfield.

Ryan Baumgartner, Jones and Bell had all been young contributors on that squad, and two years later they were the seasoned veterans, mesmerized or not.

“Our first trip down there was kind of nerve-wracking when I was a sophomore actually,” Bell said. “We kind of didn’t expect to be there. Going back my senior year, it was a lot more of a laid back atmosphere.”

Those Rebels came in ranked No. 2 with No. 1 Mater Dei in their sights, a bit of symmetry in the coach’s mind.

Southside came in as a multifaceted squad that had depth but tended to rely on its starters. Several players mentioned the second five pushed them harder than some opponents.

And on the court of what now is Bankers Life Fieldhouse, that grew to be crucial.

Gametime

Each Rebel told the same story; the game became a microcosm of the season. Players took turns stepping into the spotlight, and every night it was someone different.

Bell, who admits he still occasionally watches the tape of the game with his oldest son and shows him the state title ring, got things going, hitting shots early and carrying the team as Ryan Baumgartner got off to a cold start. The duo had anchored the team’s drive-and-kick game all season, and Bell was well on his way to his 14 points (four 3-pointers).

And then Brice Jones took over.

The Wildcat defense was built to push up and pressure the Rebels guards, so Southside just tried to dump it inside to the senior forward. He responded by bulling his way to 26 points (15 in the third quarter), snagged 13 rebounds and reaching the free-throw line 12 times, all despite foul trouble and the presence of 6-foot-9 Mater Dei center Matt Kiefer inside.

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But even big days from those two and a productive outing from Furney (14 points) wasn’t enough to give the Rebels a lead midway through the fourth quarter. But it was enough to keep things together until Ryan Baumgartner finally caught fire.

Here was the coach’s son, whose grandfather had coached Crawfordsville to a state runner-up finish in 1958, finding himself scoreless early in the fourth, two years after missing every shot he took in the 1999 title game. And then, like with any good shooter, things came into focus.

“I finally started hitting a few 3s,” Ryan Baumgartner said. “I hit two, I think to take the lead, and it ended up going to overtime and I hit, I think I had 13 (points) that game.

“That was like my season average. It all happened in like a six-minute period.”

Those six minutes helped carry the Rebels through the end of regulation and the start of overtime. One Baumgartner 3 put it at 63-62, and only a free throw from Mater Dei’s Travis Welch with 1:16 pushed the game into the extra period.

Not that there wasn’t some drama in the late going when Furney was called upon. He recalled with around 30 seconds to go, a Wildcat slipped free on a backdoor cut. And there he was, the 6-foot-4 center Rick Baumgartner said could have been far more productive but accepted his role on a talented squad, slipping off his man to slap the layup away.

Ryan Baumgartner’s hot streak carried over into overtime, starting off with a 3, and his father felt things were secure at that point, but the Rebels still faced a couple more obstacles.

Bell had fouled out late in regulation, and Jones, limited to 28 minutes by fouls, picked up his fifth with 2:37 remaining in overtime. Reserve David Vance ended up playing 25 minutes, and Jeff Hawkins and James Thomas were each forced into spot duty.

And then came the free throws.

That January, the Rebels missed 18 free throws in a 6-point loss to Cathedral, and Rick Baumgartner vowed his team would not win state if it didn’t improve. Coming into the game, Southside shot a paltry 62.7 percent from the line.

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But that night, the Rebels could hardly miss. Bell had hit all 12 of his. Down the stretch, Ryan Baumgartner went 4-for-4, while Vance hit 3-of-4 in the final minute to cap a 27-for-33 day.

Then there was Terrance “Pac-Man” Sevion, the stick-like-glue stopper the Rebels had put on every top perimeter threat the team faced. He’d already forced a missed 3 by Mater Dei on the last shot in regulation, and with 15 seconds to go in a one-possession game, he forced a sloppy turnover to help put the game away.

With that, the Rebels had their first boys basketball state crown in school history.

“It’s about time they get a little red in the Muncie Fieldhouse,” Rick Baumgartner said that night. “It’s kind of drab color in there, purple, and you need a little red to brighten things up. This is a long time coming.

“The south side kind of searches for its own identity, we talked for three years about the state of Indiana finding out who we are. They know who we are tonight.”

Those moments after

For 36 minutes, Ryan Baumgartner had been all business. Despite the massive arena, the crowd and the gravity of the moment, he was the sort of player who locked in on the game at hand. But after those final seconds, he looked around, and saw the emotion spill forth.

The joy was apparent from the longtime southsiders. The ones who’d come through those years and seen the Rebels make their runs, only to come up short.

“Some of them were crying based off of us winning,” Ryan Baumgartner said.

Furney recalled the drive back to Muncie, picking up a police and firefighter escort on the way back into town. When the Rebels reached Southside’s gym, they found a house more packed than they’d ever seen, primed to explode with cheers when they walked in.

“The atmosphere of it was electric,” Furney said.

After the speeches and pleasantries, the players got to shake hands with fans, see the elation on people’s faces up close.

One player had his own well-kept enjoyment, as Bell grew up as the kid so competitive, everyone thought he had a bad attitude. He was far from the only player on that squad with a visceral hatred for losing, but when he came home with the Trester Mental Attitude Award, it meant a little something more to him.

And this moment meant something to the oft-overlooked corner of a basketball town. There had always been that big fieldhouse on Central’s campus, with its collection of purple banners and a program that dominated the landscape, or at least acted like it did in the eyes of many.

But on that day in 2001, the people of the south side finally had theirs.

“The south side of town never got the respect it ever deserved,” Furney said. “We still feel that way ... even winning a championship. So when we won that, we felt like we had done something. The south side of town really supported us, had our backs the whole way.”